Lunge (fencing)

The lunge is the fundamental footwork technique used with all three fencing weapons: foil, épée and sabre.

In sabre, the end of the attack is defined by the front foot of the lunge landing on the piste.

The characteristic motion of the modern lunge traces its ancestry to European swordplay of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Scholars of fence such as Egerton Castle attribute the first true lunging attack to Angelo Viggiani and his Lo Schermo of 1575 (the punta supramano, or "overhand thrust").

A simple advance or pass during the thrusting attack is common as early as the Royal Armouries Ms. I.33, roughly dated to the mid-14th century.